Social Work ‘Too Easy to Scapegoat’, Says Minister

Biased reporting by the media has been partly blamed for low morale among social workers in Scotland.

Says Scotland’s Children’s Minister, Adam Ingram MSP: “You only hear about social work when tragedies happen or something goes wrong, which is rare.”

His remarks appear in an interview with Community Care magazine, which recently launched an UK-wide campaign (here) to improve the public perception of social work: Stand Up Now for Social Work.

Adds Ingram: “In real life, social workers are changing the lives of thousands of people up and down the country but we never hear of these success stories.”

He continued: “It’s often too easy for the media to scapegoat social work services for tragedies. They jump to conclusions without any proper review of the evidence – some newspapers don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

In Scotland alone, the Association of Directors of Social Work has launched its own initiative to improve the profile of social work: Social Work Changes Lives.

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